Independent Cinemas Australia (ICA) has unanimously passed a constitutional amendment creating a new category of membership for cultural institutions and film festivals, marking a significant expansion of the organisation’s representation of Australia’s screen exhibition sector.
The amendment was passed during the closing stages of the 2026 ICA Conference in Melbourne and formally recognises the role film festivals, cinematheques and cultural exhibitors play within Australia’s audience development and exhibition ecosystem.
A number of major organisations have already agreed to join ICA as foundational cultural members, including the Sydney Film Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, ACMI, Mercury Cinematheque, Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Byron Bay International Film Festival, Darwin International Film Festival and the Capital Film Festival Canberra, with further discussions continuing nationally.
ICA Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayes said the reform reflected the changing shape of Australian exhibition and the need for stronger collaboration across the broader screen culture landscape.
“Independent cinemas, film festivals and cultural exhibitors all exist within the same audience ecosystem,” Hayes said.
“They build audiences for cinema, create pathways for Australian and international storytelling, support community engagement and help sustain screen culture across metropolitan and regional Australia.”
“This constitutional change formally acknowledges that shared role while ensuring ICA remains an exhibition-led organisation.”
Under the new structure, cultural members pop receive the benefits of ICA membership and participation across the organisation, while governance protections ensure ICA’s existing membership remains central to the organisation.
The constitutional reform capped a major three-day conference that brought together 206 delegates from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States for discussions focused on the future sustainability of theatrical exhibition.
The conference centred around ICA’s core proposition that independent cinemas must remain commercially viable, community vested and culturally vital. Discussions covered audience development, Australian screen policy, cinema infrastructure, Digital Mark II capital replacement, programming, workplace issues, exhibition economics and the evolving relationship between production, distribution and exhibition.
The event also marked the first time Screen Australia formally supported the ICA Conference as a government partner. Screen Australia attended with a senior delegation comprising CEO Deirdre Brennan, Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough and Director of Strategy & Insights Adrian Coates.
ICA President Sharon Strickland said the conference demonstrated both the resilience of independent cinemas and the importance of exhibition remaining part of national screen policy conversations.
“Cinema remains Australia’s number one out-of-home cultural activity and independent cinemas continue to play an essential role in the cultural and community life of cities, suburbs and regional towns,” Strickland said.
The conference also recognised significant contributions to Australian exhibition at the ICA Gala Dinner.
Former ICA President Scott Seddon received the Bob Parr OAM Lifetime Achievement Award for his leadership of the sector across more than a decade, including through COVID-19 and the Hollywood strikes.
The Mark Sarfaty CEO Award for Outstanding Contribution to Independent Cinemas was presented to Anne Smith and Michael Smith in recognition of their decades-long contribution to Australian independent exhibition, cinema restoration and their work through Screens Without Borders, which brought local-language films and public health messaging to every province in Timor-Leste using a portable projection system on a four-wheel drive that Michael outfitted by hand.
The inaugural Deluxe Cinema Award for best renovation, restoration, technical upgrade or new build was awarded to Lismore Cinemas for the revival of the flood-affected cinema site following the 2022 Northern Rivers floods.
Hayes said the conference reflected a sector becoming more coordinated, more policy-engaged and more confident about its role within Australia’s cultural infrastructure.
Independent cinemas are not simply places that screen films,” Hayes said.
“They are gathering places, local institutions and part of a national cinema culture that continues to bring Australians together at scale, with more than one million Australia’s attended the cinemas last week and more than a million will again this week.
“The constitutional change is not just an administrative reform. It is a statement about the future of exhibition in this country: broader, more connected and more determined to keep audiences at the centre of Australian screen culture.”